Twitter Reactions: Behardien, Rabada star as Proteas win by 47 runs

In another interesting encounter of the tri-series, we had South Africa take on the mighty Australians. Winning the toss, the Proteas elected to bat first. SA had pacer Parnell and debutant Shamsi coming in while Australia had Coulter-Nile in their playing XI.

Though De Kock and Rossouw couldn’t convert their starts, all seemed well while ABD and Amla were batting. However, a confusion resulted in a run out which led to a flurry of wickets as SA slid from 81/2 to 112/6.

Behardien then played a special knock of 62 from there as the Proteas managed to bat out their 50 overs and ended up scoring 189/9. Hazelwood, Maxwell and Coulter-Nile got a couple of wickets each.

In a dry wicket assisting the spinners, the Australian batsmen were bamboozled by the scurrying turn. No batsman from the top 9 sans Finch was able to cross the single digit score. Finch played a lone hand with a gritty 72 as he hardly found support at the other end.

In the end, Australia lost the game by 47 runs, thanks to some brilliant bowling by the spinners and Rabada who took 3 wickets. Farhan Behardien was deservingly awarded the man of the match for his knock that took SA to a respectable total.

Twitter kept everyone entertained with some splendid tweets throughout the SA-Aus game. Right from lauding Coulter-Nile to trolling the SA batsmen, right from lauding Finch and Rabada to trolling Australia’s batsmen against spinners, here are some of the Twitter reactions that took place during the course of the game:

Warner + Khawaja + Smith + Maxwell + Marsh + Wade + Coulter-Nile = 24 runs. The Proteas really stuck it to the Aussies last night. #SAvsAUS

— Ben Karpinski (@followthebounce) June 8, 2016

Life is circle,
WI won against SA,
Aus won against WI and
Finally SA won against Aus.
Hence proved.#SAvsAUS

— Mayank (Petrol++) (@Mayankaryan084) June 8, 2016

https://twitter.com/altcricket/status/740327052650385408

Jeepers, umpire having a shocker in Guyana! Given out none of the ones that are out and given the only one that wasn't ? #SAvAUS

— Rusty Theron (@RustyTheron) June 7, 2016

Australian scorecard (leaving Finch): 12838200 #AUSvSA

— Sameer Allana (@HitmanCricket) June 7, 2016

No rocket science and I assume even India and Pakistan would have struggled on this wicket.

— Affan (@mufc_affanf9) June 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/altcricket/status/740323787250401280

Phangiso doesn't spin the ball. There is no point of him over Shamsi on these wickets.

— Alagappan Vijaykumar (@IndianMourinho) June 7, 2016

Chokers? We? #AussiesCantPlaySpin pic.twitter.com/7efBconDaX

— Sameer Allana (@HitmanCricket) June 7, 2016

Strange decision from Finch’s teammates to try to give him a chance to make a 150 in a 180 run chase. But he’s going for it. #AUSvSA

— Dan Liebke (@LiebCricket) June 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/denniscricket_/status/740305146375081984

This tri series is like a sluggish spin fest among non spin playing countries #AusvsSA

— 15Degrees (@desigiri82) June 7, 2016

Only SA batsman to hit boundaries in the last 36.4 overs (220 balls) was Farhan Behardien. He hit 4 fours and a six. Nothing from others.

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) June 7, 2016

Australian spinners have bowled 25 overs in this game so far. Last time Aussie spinners bowled 25+ overs in an ODI was v NZ in 1998. #AUSvSA

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) June 7, 2016

Awake two minutes. Hear Hazlewood described as ‘McGrath-like’. All seems in order then. #AUSvSA

— Dan Liebke (@LiebCricket) June 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/holdingwilley/status/740274061050187776

Behardien has a very stylish-looking straight drive but I have rarely seen it go for runs.#AUSvSA #TriSeries

— Suneer (@suneerchowdhary) June 7, 2016

Bit happening out there #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/qYBp0diaaR

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) June 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/altcricket/status/740254521301958656

When did Duminy last score any runs…? #ausvsa

— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) June 7, 2016